The Playland Parkway is a , four-lane, partially divided road in

Westchester County, New York Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

, in the United States, and is assigned County Route 152. The road is restricted to passenger vehicle traffic. The short stretch of road and low-standard freeway connects Interstate 95 (I-95, named the

New England Thruway Interstate 95 (I-95) is part of the Interstate Highway System and runs from Miami, Florida, to the Canada–United States border near Houlton, Maine. In the U.S. state of New York, I-95 extends from the George Washington Bridge in New Y ...

) and U.S. Route 1 (US 1) with the Playland amusement park in

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

. The Playland Parkway was originally conceived as a part of the

Cross County Parkway The Cross County Parkway (CCP) is a parkway in lower Westchester County, New York, in the United States. The parkway is a critical east–west connection throughout Westchester, having full interchanges with every major north–south high ...

, which would have crossed from

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...

via

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...

and

New Rochelle New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

before reaching Playland. The parkway was constructed by the Westchester County Park Commission in 1928 between US 1 and the amusement park, although the extension of the Cross County was dropped during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

due to financial strains. During the mid-1960s and early-1970s, the parkway was part of a proposal to create a new bridge across the

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

connecting Rye to Oyster Bay. Led by

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...

and the

Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority (TBTA), doing business as MTA Bridges and Tunnels, is an affiliate agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that operates seven toll bridges and two tunnels in New York City. In terms of traf ...

, the bridge would have demolished homes and used a part of the Playland Parkway for the right-of-way. Opposition was heavy within Rye, and in 1973, once more opposition was raised in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

Nelson Rockefeller Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of t ...

killed the project. The parkway originally terminated at US 1 (

Boston Post Road The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into one of the first major highways in the United States. The three major alignments were the Lower Post Road (now U.S. Ro ...

) upon opening, but construction was completed on the

in 1958, extending the new parkway from US 1 to its current western terminus.

Route description

The Playland Parkway begins at an interchange with

I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

, heading southeast as a four-lane

divided highway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

. The road passes over

Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...

New Haven Line The Metro-North Railroad New Haven Line is a commuter rail line running from New Haven, Connecticut to New York City. It joins the Harlem Line at Mount Vernon, New York and continues south to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. The New Haven ...

and heads into wooded areas with nearby development, coming to an interchange with Old Post Road that provides access to US 1. Past this interchange, the Playland Parkway becomes a four-lane undivided road and passes under US 1. The road continues through wore woodland near residential neighborhoods, coming to an at-grade intersection with Milton Road. The Playland Parkway curves more to the east and intersects Midland Avenue/Ridgeland Terrace and Forest Avenue before ending at the entrance to the Playland amusement park on

, at which point the road gains a wide median.

History

The four-lane parkway that would eventually become the Playland Parkway was first conceived as part of the

, which would connect the cities of

, and

before reaching the shores of the Long Island Sound, where it would meet Playland Amusement Park. Playland Amusement Park, a new park maintained by the Westchester County Park Commission in Rye, opened to the public in 1928, bringing a more middle-class, family-oriented environment to the shores of Rye, which had been known for lewd behavior in the area. As result of the middle-class belief for the new park, the new parkway was designed so that a similar clientele could come by car to visit. Engineers considered Playland as the "junctional terminal of all the great boulevards of Westchester County", and as a result, designed the new parkway lined with

elm tree Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus ''Ulmus'' in the plant family Ulmaceae. They are distributed over most of the Northern Hemisphere, inhabiting the temperate and tropical-montane regions of Nor ...

s to circle around the new Bath House and reach the entrance via a new

traffic circle A roundabout is a type of circular intersection (road), intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The N ...

The new parkway, which was conceptualized as a roadway, had the section between the

(US 1) and Rye Playland, with construction starting in 1928. The Westchester County Park Commission announced in its annual report in April 1928 that the new park and the parkway that it would go with would open in the summer of 1928 as part of appropriations of $47 million (1928 USD). While the section between the Boston Post Road and the park opened in 1929, the extension between the current-day Cross County Parkway and the current-day Playland Parkway was never constructed, due to the financial strains of the

. In October 1958, the

was completed through Westchester, connecting Pelham to

Port Chester Port Chester is a village in the U.S. state of New York and the largest part of the town of Rye in Westchester County by population. At the 2010 U.S. census, the village of Port Chester had a population of 28,967 and was the fifth-most popul ...

. With the opening of the new roadway, the Playland Parkway was extended to then-exit 11 of the Thruway. This exit was renumbered to 19 as part of a complete number revamp in February 1980. In the mid-1950s, proposals began for a bridge over the Long Island Sound, including a proposal for a crossing between the town of Oyster Bay and the city of Rye. A study was done in the 1960s for the Oyster Bay–Rye Bridge by

and the Nassau-Suffolk County Planning Board to design the bridge, which originally would connect the

Cross Westchester Expressway Interstate 287 (I-287) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US states of New Jersey and New York. It is a partial beltway around New York City, serving the northern half of New Jersey and the counties of Rockland and Westchester in N ...

(

I-287 Interstate 287 (I-287) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US states of New Jersey and New York. It is a partial beltway around New York City, serving the northern half of New Jersey and the counties of Rockland and Westchester in N ...

) and the Seaford–Oyster Bay Expressway ( NY 135). The cost of the new project would run upwards of $150 million (1966 USD). The project also had the support originally of then-

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...

, along with several

officials. While there was support on the Long Island side of the sound, the amount of support in Rye was not as upbeat. In July 1965, Robert Moses had to redesign the route for the new bridge, so that rather than the Cross Westchester meeting the bridge, the Playland Parkway would meet the new bridge. Opposition with Rye involved the fact that it would take $3 million of property demolition to fit the new bridges, although the original proposal would take over $6 million. Moving the approach to Playland did not amuse residents of Rye either, which would cost Playland Park its pool, bathhouse and some of the beach on the park. Other complaints included that while more houses would be saved, they would be in the area of heavy traffic. Clay Johnson, mayor of Rye opposed the project, citing it would ruin the neighborhoods of Rye. Rutherford Hubbard, the leader of the "Rye Citizens Advisory Committee Against The Sound Bridge" stated that Moses should think about the people and be more democratic about his decisions. Once opposition started to appear on the Long Island side of the sound, Governor Rockefeller cancelled the project himself on June 20, 1973, seven years after the first proposal was selected.

Exit list

References

External links

{{Attached KML, display=title,inline
Playland Parkway @ NYCROADS.comRye Playland
Rye, New York Transportation in Westchester County, New York Parkways in New York (state)